Amit Chatterjee is CEO and Founder of Hara, a provider of environmental and energy management solutions.

Prior to founding Hara, he led SAP's Governance, Risk and Compliance unit. Mr. Chatterjee developed strategic and leadership experience while at McKinsey & Co., working with clients such as SAP, Cisco, and Oracle.

Chatterjee holds a B.A. degrees in Political Science and Chemistry from UC Berkeley, with graduate studies at Stanford University.

Mr.Chatterjee is a thought-leader on green economy innovation, energy independence, and entrepreneurship. He has participated in prominent conferences such as the United Nations Copenhagen Climate Change Conference, and he has been a featured participant at Fortune Brainstorm Tech, Aspen Institute?s Clean Energy Economic Forum, and the Corporate Leaders Group on Climate Change Conference.

Mr. Chatterjee is the author of The Post Carbon Economy, and he sits on the board of the Corporate Responsibility Officers Association.

Amit Chatterjee, founder and CEO of Hara, the growing energy management solutions company, shares the wisdom of his entrepreneurial experience. He covers an array of topics vital to launching and running a successful enterprise, including the importance of product innovation, new market development, thriving in a competitive landscape, and the critical importance of building a brilliant team.

Amit Chatterjee, founder and CEO of Hara, the growing energy management solutions company, shares the wisdom of his entrepreneurial experience. He covers an array of topics vital to launching and running a successful enterprise, including the importance of product innovation, new market development, thriving in a competitive landscape, and the critical importance of building a brilliant team.

"Don't assume that building the company and financially engineering the company are the same thing," says Hara CEO and Founder Amit Chatterjee. Chatterjee reminds aspiring entrepreneurs that simply because you're ready to go public is no guarantee that you'll be successful in the public market.

Amit Chatterjee, CEO and founder of Hara, discusses the learning benefits an entrepreneur gains from "putting on a suit" inside a larger company. Compared to launching his own entrepreneurial ventures, Chatterjee found working within an established enterprise to be a way to gain experience in strategy and critical thinking - without having to worry about the bottom line. Ironically, it was also through contacts made while working in a Fortune 5000 that Chatterjee became inspired to launch his next startup.

Hara CEO Amit Chatterjee sees the fertile breeding ground for his venture at the intersection of info-tech and green tech. Even with a solid idea and a unique concept, his company decided to quietly accept venture capital and gain market traction in stealth mode for the first 18 months. The benefit of this concept, says Chatterjee, is that it kept the company focused on product development, rather than marketing and posturing.

Amit Chatterjee, CEO and founder of Hara, pinpoints a shift in the startup game. It used to be that young businesses tapped their national market completely before heading overseas. Now, says Chatterjee, the focus is to approach multiple global markets simultaneously - for Hara, this meant reaching out to the UK, the Middle East, and Japan from the company's start.

Which sectors currently hold entrepreneurial opportunity? Hara CEO and Founder Amit Chatterjee shares his analysis and market forecasts as of Fall, 2010. On his radar, sectors with great opportunity include not just Environmental and Energy Management (EEM), but also healthcare and biotech/nanotech.

When you know that some players on your team are not a good fit, let them go quickly, says Hara CEO Amit Chatterjee. In his estimate, one-third of your employees will be passionate devotees, one-third will be willing to follow, and the remaining third will voice their discontent. Members of that last group must change or move on.

Don't build a company to flip it; build it to last, says Amit Chatterjee, CEO and Founder of Hara. His preferred method for startup financing is to initially take venture funding, and then to take the company public. While a startup can take additional rounds of funding, Chatterjee believes going public is a less trade-off intensive way to finance a high-growth global enterprise.

Success is not limited to financial gain; it's more about lasting impact. Amit Chatterjee, CEO of Hara, offers sage advice for the aspiring entrepreneur. His list includes: 1) Building a culture that demands great tasks from great talent; 2) Only hire people that you can learn from; 3) Focus on creating value, rather than simply financial outcome; 4) Surround yourself with only the brightest minds on your advisory board; and 5) Believe in your own success, as this is the key for building it.

Disciplined "time outs" are necessary to balance work life and family life for an entrepreneur, says Amit Chatterjee, CEO and Founder of Hara. Chatterjee says pulling off this "tough trick" means turning off the cell phone, setting the business aside, and working to step away from business stress and pressure as it enters your family's life.

You sell a part of yourself when you're recruiting truly passionate talent, says Hara CEO and Founder Amit Chatterjee. You also supercharge team members when you offer them the opportunity to put their fingerprints on your business. Recruiting must be a top priority - even for those on the engineering side - if you want the cycle of passion between the entrepreneur and the new recruit to spin.

Why is it important to learn about entrepreneurship? Entrepreneurship is about finding value and excitement in what you do, states Hara CEO Amit Chatterjee. Chatterjee no longer needs an alarm clock, as his passion for his current work is enough to propel him awake every morning. He encourages aspiring students and entrepreneurs to figure out what they are the CEO of - which means finding deeper value in the work one chooses to do each day.